"Generation Why Bother?" It's one of the nicknames currently going around for the millennial generation (or generation y) and to be honest, when I first heard it, I was appalled. People say we are lazy. People say we are entitled. People say we are self-centered. Once I read a few articles backing up these claims, I had to agree with them (well maybe not the self-centered one).We are lazy. We are the generation that always wants the easy way out, and we've forgotten the value of hard work.
Because here's a fact that I think most of us seem to forget: Great things come from hard work, that's what makes them so great. You will never reach your goals if you sleep through them.
Our generation has become the one that simply wants to get by. In high-school, instead of asking, "How can I truly capture my thesis throughout my essay," we asked, "What's the minimum number of pages?" In college, everyone brags that "C's get degrees." We've become a group that's simply scrapping by, a group giving half our effort in every aspect of our lives. We've forgotten the value of working hard for something we truly want.
We've come to the point where we simply focus on our basic needs, and try to find the fastest and easiest means to satisfy it. When you type "Millenials are..." into google words like "lazy" and "entitled" fill in. What does this say about us?
It's effected our relationships, both romantic and not. It's why most relationships start with a flirty tinder message, not a shy hello to a stranger. It's why our conversations to get to know one another happen over imessage, not over a cup of coffee. It's shown when a simple swipe to the right for a one night stand is more than common that a night out to dinner.
It's effected our education. Of all generations, we should be working the hardest. With so many others before us getting their college education, a Bachelor's degree is the new high-school diploma. This comparison has been thrown around quite a lot these past couple years, so why is it we are not taking our education more seriously? If the Bachelor's degree is the new high-school diploma, then why is it only 19% of millennials have a college degree compared to 35% (from our previous generation).
I don't blame our generation specifically. I blame the environment we grew up in, and no, I'm not going to blame the technology. I think it's due to the glorification of the "Lazy Millennials." This idea has become so built up over the past few years, the idea that we can all just "Netflix and chill" our way through life. We've accepted the idea that it's okay to sleep through your college classes, no matter how many thousands of dollars it costed you and your parents. We take stances on political views online instead of actually contributing. It's well known that many millennials "feel the Bern," but only 50% of the millennial generation voted in this year's caucus. Our way of getting involved is writing a post online, yet failing to get off our butts to actually put in a vote. The baby boomers currently outvote us by 30%.
We are a group of individuals with passion, and I truly believe we can make a major impact on the world. If you ask any millennial about their thoughts on the current election, they will surely give you an earful. We stand by what we believe. You should see the students in my geology class; the discussions we have on the environment should be arguments that everyone hears. We have ideas and stances that could really make a change on the world. The passion is there, all we need is the hard work.
